Making the tenant fix everything

[Cameron McNulty]

Hi all, this is a hypothetical question I have for you investors/landlords. Obviously, people have work order requests come up, and most of the time, its pretty reasonable requests that do require external assistance; For example, their heat isn't working. But what about those one off requests? such as weird little things like their doorknob fell off, or even things as ridiculous as their toilet is clogged and they want someone to come unclog it (I work for an apartment community and someone actually requested this)

What can you do to prevent these (over time costly) small maintenance requests, when you don't have the money for a handy man to come out every time something comes up? Is there something you can include in your lease that covers us as landlords/owners, stating we aren't responsible for small maintenance repairs like the ones I mentioned? Or is this another one of those "depends on your area" scenarios?

-Thanks in advance :)

[Mike Dymski]

The "happy clause".  For chronic abuse, "You don't seem to be happy here.  I have a unit that may be a better fit that rents for $XXX more. Or, it's okay if you want to break your lease with 30 day notice."